National pharmacy chain CVS has ordered it’s employees to get a checkup from a doctor once a year, and report the results to the company, or they will pay a $600/year penalty.

Among the measures, employees must report their weight, body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Workers must also be tobacco free or enroll in an addiction program by next year.

CVS (Photo credit: Gangles87)

Tyranny takes many forms. It is often assumed that only governments can be tyrants, but we are seeing more businesses step up and inserting themselves into our personal lives. Firing people because of something stupid they said on Facebook or the internet. Firing, or not hiring people because they are overweight, or, as in this case, forcing people to quit smoking.

Personal choices have consequences, but it isn’t right for an employer (or the government for that matter) to force someone to live a healthy lifestyle. We have reached the tipping point in this busybody nation that we have become that everyone is trying to force us to live a certain way. They call it “nudging”. You keep “nudging” me, and I am likely to turn around and punch you in the face.

It’s “progressive and cutting edge,” a top executive from CVS said.

That’s right, progressive = tyrant. Don’t agree with the way someone lives their lives? “Nudge” them to living a healthier lifestyle. Force them to live the way you want.

Whatever happened to the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Oh, no, can’t let anyone be happy.

I don’t understand the obsession some people have about living as long as they can. I see no point in living to be 100 or more, confined to a wheelchair and put away in some nursing home, forgotten about by my family. We all die, and while I am in no hurry to speed that process up, I don’t want to live as an invalid, sitting stooped in a wheelchair all day, or yelling nonsensically as people pass by.

There are some lawyers who are saying that the policy isn’t legal. Like that’s going to stop them. They’ll figure out how to reword it to pass muster. Obama is busy trying to tear down HIPAA laws. I realize that it is not illegal for someone to discuss their medical history with whomever they want, but is it legal for an employer to require them to “voluntarily” divulge that information?

If we are going to pass all these stupid laws prohibiting people from smoking or eating fast food, I think we should pass laws making it illegal for anyone to climb a mountain in the dead of winter. Something bad might happen, and often does. How many people have died on Mt. Hood over the past 5 years, because they decided to try to scale it in the dead of winter? How many still haven’t been found?

In fact, let’s outlaw skiing. You have a helmet, but what protects the rest of your body from injury or death?

You nailed this one Tony. I’m absolutely appalled at the very nerve of companies like CVS and frankly the albatross that is Obamacare, in general. While I am a strong proponent of healthy living and certainly would love those that I care about to jump on the bandwagon and join me in my next 5k, I can’t imagine telling my mother that she’ll have to pay a penalty if she isn’t as fit and healthy as I measure it by this time next year. Seriously…